


Creative Kernel

by rinestone



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brotp! Canada Bros, Choi Chanhee | New Is A Little Shit, Eventual Romance, Inspired by Real Events, Kim Sunwoo Is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Movie References, The Boyz Work at a Cinema! AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 17:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13528857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinestone/pseuds/rinestone
Summary: Sangyeon thought back about when he first started working there three years prior and made a face. He used to be that young and happy but, unfortunately, he was easily corrupted as well.Welcome to hell kids.





	Creative Kernel

**Author's Note:**

> Based off many real events during our jobs at a theatre. We hope you laugh at our pain and as well as theirs. Thank you for reading!

**★ SANGYEON ★**

 

Sangyeon stood in the cast room as the new employees got dressed in the changing room behind him. Leaning against the wall, he listened to the resident golden boy Kevin and his fellow supervisor Jacob’s conversation as they sat at the shared table.

 

“I’m just saying anyone who likes pineapple on pizza has no proper taste is all.” Jacob was saying practically asleep while staring at his phone. His feet were propped up against a chair as he sat across the table from the other Canadian who was ungracefully shovelling popcorn into his mouth.

 

“That’s where you’re wrong. I have amazing taste in everything including my pineapple preferences, thank you very much.”

 

“You almost ate a tide pod with Juyeon last week cause you thought it would be funny, Kevin.”

 

“But that has nothing to do with _flavor!_ ”

 

The older Supervisor sighed and eyed the door of the changing room blocking out the rest of his coworkers conversation. A few seconds later, the door swung open and the new employees entered in uniform. Clad in black slacks and a navy shirt. Each of them wore a hat with _Creative Kernel Theatres_ scrawled in a neat font on the front and had name tags with large stickers that said _Training_ almost completely covering their names. All four of them stood staring at him with poorly masked fear as he began to approach them.

 

“Okay children welcome to your first day!” Sangyeon clapped his hands together with a warm smile on his face. He could vaguely see the Canadians snickering at the table out of the corner of his eye. “So before we start with your practical training I’m gonna just give you kids a tour of the place real quick and then we can get to the fun stuff okay?” he tried to sound as casual as possible hoping he didn’t sound bored. Unfortunately, he seemed to be doing those tours way too often.

 

The tallest newbie out of the four raised his hand. Sangyeon read his name tag quick and nodded his head at the kid. _Hyunjoon._

 

“Aren’t you only a few years older than us?”

 

Sangyeon blinked at him as he heard Jacob and Kevin howl with laughter in the background. He cleared his throat and motioned for them all to come inside the room as the other two quieted down.

 

“Okay,” he started ignoring the youngers unnecessary comment. He had a bad feeling about this group already. Too easy to corrupt. “This is the Cast Room! This is where you come for breaks. You can wait here before or after your shift as well.”

 

It was average sized, filled with very old, borderline disgusting furniture. Two leather couches that were probably littered with diseases sat in the corner of the room surrounding a broken box tv connected to the wall. In the middle of the room was a sticky grey square table surrounded by seven chairs, the eighth missing, covered in Kevin’s popcorn. A surprisingly empty black trash can was across from the door and finally a small barely used kitchenette covered the right side of the room.

 

“You can eat your food back here or charge your phone or something. It’s never empty so there’s always someone to talk to. Just make sure you don’t bring anyone back here who doesn’t work with us okay?”

 

The kids nodded as he led them into the small hall outside the break room. Outside was a thin hall covered in rusted lockers for storage some of them left open from prior use. Two changing rooms were directly across from the break room armed with electric locks for staff comfort.

 

“You already put your stuff in lockers which is good. Just make sure not to leave anything here overnight. We tend to throw it away to avoid clutter.”

 

Having already taught the newbies the code for their changing room earlier he walked them out of the employee only area into the theatre. All of them followed quickly out the door. Some more gracefully than others. The shortest of the bunch, _Eric_ his name tag read, tripped on the new carpet almost falling face first and caught himself in the last second. His face was red for a majority of the tour afterwards.

 

“This is South side. This hall has theatres 1 to 6 here including the IMAX and North, which is across the hall past the lobby, has 7 to 12.”

 

He walked the newbies down the long hall past the entrances to the cinemas on either side of them. At the end of the hall next to the bathrooms was a podium for an employee to rip tickets. Sunwoo stood there talking to a pair of guests as he handed them each a pair of IMAX glasses from the rack next to him. The group continued to walk past the teenager into the lobby paying him no attention.

 

The lobby was an extremely big circle with different booths along the walls and entrances on the east and west sides of the building.

 

Box office sat next to the east entrance across from the loud closed off arcade that seemed currently vacant save for a very bored looking employee. Yellow self serving kiosks lined a small area near the entrance as well. A restaurant booth called _First Take_ with a bright menu of western fast food sat next to the west entrance. A small line of people stood in front as cast members took and prepared their orders. Across from the restaurant was a bright pastel themed booth called _Frozo’s_ covered in cartoon fruits. Three self serve frozen yogurt machine were connected to the wall with two flavors each connected to a toppings bar with a cash register on top. Behind the counter were various coffee making machines and a variety of teas. No employee in sight.

 

In the middle of the lobby sat the concession stand. Shaped like a circle with soda machines, candy shelves and small one sided fridges decorating around it. Popcorn and slush machines were lined up onto the wall behind the cashes radiating heat. Butter and nacho containers scattered around as well. The back of concession had a small gap to be used as an entrance for employees as well as a small room for storage and their ice machine.

 

Sangyeon pointed out the many booths as they followed past concession. “This is concession where you’ll all be training. Everyone is trained on concession before they’re trained anywhere else so you’ll see everybody working here from time to time.” He looked at the four faces some excited, some nauseous.

 

Hyunjoon and Eric seemed uncomfortable now that they stood behind the counter with the rest of the employees currently talking to guests and making their orders. The other two, Changmin and Haknyeon seemed less so. Both of them smiled and kept glancing at the popcorn coming out of the popper making a lot of noise.

 

“Okay do you all remember your codes?” they all nodded staying quiet. “Alright so you’re all going to log into a cash register with those codes and we’ll go over the menu together alright?” The employees each moved to the registers, some of them bumping into the counter due to lack of space. Sangyeon watched as they all started to loosen up and log into the computers in front of them. They looked young and happy. Sangyeon thought back about when he first started working there three years prior and made a face. He used to be that young and happy but, unfortunately, he was easily corrupted as well.

 

_Welcome to hell kids._

 

**★ KEVIN ★**

 

There Kevin stood at his cashiers till inside the arcade, watching as a small child got angry at the air hockey game all because his friend won and not him. Of course; in the child’s eye, it was the game's fault and not his for losing. Kevin didn’t believe that standing there and screaming whenever the puck came towards him was a good gaming strategy in his professional opinion but unfortunately that didn’t matter to anyone. Being a sore loser, the child whipped the air hockey puck at the other child's face and ended up hitting him directly in the eye. Kevin let out a huge sigh since it was the third time he's had to deal with these types of shenanigans throughout his shift. _All in a day's work, am I right?_

 

After 30 minutes of screaming children, two very insulted parents and a very insincere apology on Kevin’s part; he stood alone in the empty arcade. It seems the 1 pm showings had all begun leaving his tiny workstation completely barren and the food stalls deserted save for a few mid movie snack cravings.

After doing a few checks on the more popular games and throwing away whatever garbage was left lying around, Kevin headed over to peek around the curved wall. The arcade was separated from the rest of the lobby by a wall to keep a lot of the excess noise away from unsuspecting guests. Most people didn’t think it worked but head office also didn’t listen to most people it seemed. From where Kevin stood he could see an empty bored looking box office and a corner of concession where they seemed to be organizing breaks with his best friend Jacob. Everything else was hidden. Kevin moved from one foot to the other and glanced around his pristine workstation. Lights were flashing and every game’s soundtrack played lazily underneath the radio station’s Top 40 playlist.

 

Kevin decided to sneak a look around the corner as he walked towards the wall separating him and the rest of the lobby. His worst enemy he had proclaimed once. When he popped his head out his eyes landed almost directly on Frozo’s. The theatre’s frozen yogurt stand and coffee shop. Chanhee was currently serving a guest a hot drink with his fake smile etched onto his face but something seemed out of place. Kevin walked out a little to get a closer look. The customer grabbed his cup and complained about something causing Chanhee to apologize profusely. Kevin tisked at the woman as she walked away towards the restaurant on the other side of the lobby and turned back to the boy. Chanhee was currently cradling his hand and looked to be swearing still unaware that he was being watched. The look on his face showed that he had spilt a bit of the hot liquid on his hand as he handed the drink over to the customer. Kevin straightened his posture as Chanhee then rushed to the back area where he was now hidden.

 

While Kevin was not paying attention to his surroundings, he had moved just ever so slightly out of the arcade area in the lobby for prime watching ability. When he was no longer able to catch a glimpse of Chanhee, who was covered in the back of the frozen yogurt zone, he went to turn around to go back into the arcade. Spinning too fast, Kevin happened to walk right into the wall behind him, which led him to let out an awkward sound squeaking noise. He could hear more than a few giggles from concession. Kevin took a quick glance to see who all was laughing at him. Some customers and then of course his eyes landed right on Jacob trying to cover his mouth as he laughed loudly. Why was he there? He was always there. Jacob had a tendency to look squishy but would enjoy holding blackmail material for future uses. Blackmail material meaning Kevin’s entire existence.

 

Kevin stomped away, starting to pout all the way back to his cash register speeding as he had a guest waiting to trade in their winnings for one of the items on the prize wall of goodies. They must have entered while Kevin had tried to become 007. A short conversation passed and Kevin finished up and handed the chosen stuffed animal over to the happy child who was thrilled to have a brand new friend. Not even a few seconds later after the guest had left, dread built inside him as Jacob appeared. Kevin wished the biggest lunch rush onto concession deep in his soul.

 

Jacob smiled casually “Snuck a peek, eh?” he raised his eyebrows repeatedly.

 

“Can you not for once...”  Kevin grimaced knowing what was about to come.

 

“So when are you actually going to man up and ask him out?”  

 

“What I..” Kevin glared at his best friend and reached for a plushed Ryan doll to throw at him but stopped himself. “When are you gonna man up and quit the theatre?” he shot back.

 

Jacob froze for a second and leaned onto the counter smirking. “How about after you give me a hundred dollars?” Jacob started to get comfortable on the counter and started reorganizing the points card on the counter in front of him oblivious as Kevin reached into one of the cupboards where he hid his possessions: a word search book, his phone and his marvel wallet.

 

Jacob was about to start talking again when Kevin quickly dropped 100,000 won in various bills onto the counter in front of Jacob. Jacob’s eyes widened and he stared at his friends smugs expression. “What. Kevin where..? What? No put it back!” He whispered panicked due to if his friend was seen it would look he was stealing money out of his cash register. He also wasn’t quitting anytime soon.

 

“Whatever then.” Grumbled Kevin while rolling his eyes once again as he shoved his hard earned cash back into his wallet.

 

“Why do you even keep that much in your-” Suddenly Jacob put his hand up to his earpiece for his walkie talkie as someone starting speaking. Both boys could hear through their respective earpieces.

 

_“Jacob-hyung, there’s been a concern in theatre six, could you come help please?”_

 

Kevin’s older friend make a strange growlike gurgled noise in the back of his throat and replied with a quick on my way before glaring. Kevin smirked and leaned against his side of the counter before waving his friend off.

 

“Goodluck with the screaming, loser!”

 

Jacob’s response was to flip him off of course. Only reasonable response really.

**★ SUNWOO ★**

 

 

Sunwoo stood at the podium quietly pondering how his life had gotten to that point. His lower back ached from standing for four hours with barely a fifteen minute break of sitting halfway, his legs were strained from lack of movement and his body was filled with restless energy. He wanted to sit down and run around all at the same time. He looked away from his paper which had been doodled on quite carelessly and looked down at the mat underneath his feet. It was supposed to be helping. Why wasn’t it helping? He glared at it for a few moments while he thought in his head what he could eat on break. Both his physical body and mental stability were slowly decaying and he needed to eat something soon.

 

He sighed and rubbed at his ear where the earpiece of the walkie talkie he had was digging into the side of his head causing discomfort. One of his migraines was starting, he could feel it. Most likely cause by the very consistent sound of his friend whining next to him.

 

Sunwoo dropped the pen he was holding onto the podium and turned to Juyeon who seemed to be standing there speaking instead of doing his job and checking movie theatres.

 

“-literally nobody will take it and it’s not like I can ask any of the new kids. Kevin is already working and he usually takes all my shifts when I need him too. Sunwoo, please, this would be doing me a real solid if you co-”

 

“Pause.”

 

Juyeon stopped immediately and widened his eyes. Unfortunately for him, his younger friend was wearing his usual unreadable expression.

 

“Honestly, I’ve been tuning you out for the past five minutes and I couldn’t care less why you need the shift off. When is it again, hyung? What position?” Sunwoo asks trying to finish off politely. He needed to censor himself. His headaches always made him crabby.

 

Juyeon perked up and jumped on spot a few times. “Friday floor close!”

 

Sunwoo sighed and leaned against the counter when he made sure no guests or managers were around to see him. “I’ll do it for twenty bucks.”

 

Juyeon grinned and hugged him quickly. Both their earpieces banged against each other which pinched Sunwoo’s ear and the younger cleared his throat.

 

“I’ll go tell Jacob or Younghoon hyungs and they’ll switch it tonight! I got to do my checks but thank you so much you’re the best!”

 

Juyeon ran into the closest theatre and Sunwoo sighed. Finally peace and quiet. The white noise of the arcade and radio playing for the lobby meshed well with the individual soundtracks coming each theatre.

 

Chanhee walked down the hall towards the Cast Room holding his tea. His hand looked red and appeared to have burn cream on it. His usual stoic face brightened slightly at the sight of Sunwoo who he had deemed was his son and apprentice due their mutual hatred of the establishment they worked for.

 

“Hey hyung.” Sunwoo leaned against the podium again to relieve pressure from his calves. Chanhee gave him a small smile and stopped in front of the podium after glancing around to see no managers around despite the fact he couldn’t care less. “Are you done for the day?”

 

“Yeah, Sangyeon hyung just switched with me after a fun talk about burns.” He lifted his other hand in order to emphasize the shiny pink hue on his knuckle.

 

“Ouch.” Sunwoo flinched. Ever since being trained onto floor he never got food shifts it seemed. He was grateful due to his constant need to yell whenever the popper made a lot of sudden noise. He didn’t miss the occasional burns though. Chanhee having to work with boiling drinks seemed to get them quite often much to his chagrin.

 

“I have a few days off after today though thank god.” Chanhee looked exhausted. Taking a sip from his tea he leaned closer to him on the podium to glance at his doodles. “When are you done?”

 

“In an hour. Jacob hyung asked me to stay an extra hour cause someone called in saying they were gonna be late.”

 

Chanhee tsked and shook his head. “If hyung asked me that I would’ve run out the door. But you love the extra cash so I’m not surprised.” Chanhee straightened up and took a small step away from the podium when a child left their theatre at the end of the hall and was approaching them, most likely for the washroom.

 

Sunwoo turned away from the child who was still only half way down the hall and back to the pretty boy in front of him. “Are you working Friday by the way? Or is it your day off? I told Juyeon I would take his shift then.”

 

Chanhee, who had been sipping more tea, stopped and coughed quietly. “Yeah I work the evening.” Chanhee looked at behind Sunwoo at the little girl who tried to go into the locked family washroom. She continued her way towards the bathrooms next to podium and he turned back at his friend. “Friday when? On floor?”

 

“Evening and yeah floor. I don’t work anything else.”

 

Chanhee tried to repress a smile and failed before laughing quietly to himself. Sunwoo frowned frowned in confusion.

 

“What?”

 

“I just wasn’t expecting it.”

 

“Why?” Sunwoo pushed as the little girl walked closer to them slowly.

 

“Because _The Conjuring 2_ is premiering Friday, Woo.” Chanhee replied smugly.

 

Sunwoo suddenly paused, cursing in his head. Noticing the confused the little girl standing directly next to him he began to point out which of the washrooms was the women's when she turned to him with big eyes and a greenish complexion.

 

“Are you okay dear? The bathrooms are on the r-” Sunwoo stopped speaking when the little girl bent over and suddenly let herself go onto the carpet and, unfortunately, his shoes.

 

Chanhee covered his mouth in shock as Sunwoo stood frozen as the girl continued to vomit. She quickly apologized before running into the women’s washroom. Sunwoo slowly turned to look at Chanhee looking very pale. He kept his eye contact as he pressed a button onto the walkie.

 

“Jacob hyung? Can you come to South side please? It’s urgent.” He whispered quietly.

 

Defeated.

 

Chanhee continued to stare in pity as Sunwoo tried not move to further ruin his shoes.

 

“Are you oka-”

 

“No.”

 

“Is there anything I ca-”

 

 _“No.”_ he squeaked.

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on AsianFanfics and Tumblr.  
> twitter: @justyouniverse tumblr: @twelveboyz


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